Several weeks ago you would have heard a sermon on
the Parable of the Talents. I don’t know
how Timothy preached it over here, but in the past I would have launched out
talking about Stewardship from the perspective of what we do with the Time,
Talents, and Money that God has entrusted to us. Do we invest them, put them to work for
Christ Jesus and his kingdom work or do we simply in fear bury them in the ground. This year, over on the other side, I took a
different route saying that it is pointless to talk about stewardship of Time,
Talent, and Money, without first talking about what we do with that one small
talent of God’s own life, the Holy Spirit, that God has placed in us in
Christ.
The Holy Spirit is our personal bond to Jesus in whom
we share in Jesus’ own relationship to God the Father and in turn know
ourselves to be beloved children of God.
The Stewardship questions that surround this talent are “are we devoting
ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and letting the Holy Spirit do his
transforming work in us while we commit ourselves to being discipled and
discipling others?” It is in the context
of a discipling relationship with others that our identity as beloved children
of God begins to blossom and we are changed to be more Jesus-like and the
abundance of life that God has to give overflows.
Well, that in a nutshell was the sermon series that I
preached over on the other side of the Cooperative. This morning I wish to come back to the text
on the talents and address it not from the perspective of us as individuals but
rather of us as a community of faith.
God gives his Spirit to us not simply to fill us individuals but also to
fill us as congregations. So, we must
ask how are we, together, stewarding the gift of God’s self to this
congregation, the Holy Spirit who shapes us to be a unique body of Christ
geared for God’s work in this particularly community. The Living God of hope has called us each to
this particular congregation in order to send us together into this particular
community to be his living witnesses.
In our reading from Romans Paul gives us a very
general parameter for how the Holy Spirit is at work in us, a parameter that’s
true for all churches. Verses 5 and 6
read: “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same
attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind
and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Holy Spirit is with us to give this
congregation endurance and encouragement to continue running in this difficult
race of being the body of Christ in a culture that could either care less about
Jesus or can be outright against us. So,
the Holy Spirit, the presence of Jesus, is with us.
So also, the Holy Spirit works in us to give us unity
of attitude, the mindedness of Christ Jesus.
He gives us love for one another that is the same love that Jesus has
for us. This love, his love manifests
among us when we bear with each other’s failings rather than judging and
ostracising; when we seek the good of each other and our neighbours and to
build one another up rather than just seeking to please ourselves. In Jesus love we accept one another as Jesus
has accepted us and we help one another become more like him. This love, his love, is powerful and when we
put it into action real hope begins to overflow from us. Unity in the wonder-working, powerful love of
Christ is the basic parameter of the Holy Spirit’s working in our midst. It is the one small talent God entrusts to
every congregation.
Building from there, in our Appreciative Inquiry work
we identified more of our particular giftedness for ministry in Christ that the
Holy Spirit has been working in us. Do
you remember our “Thrive Statements”?
St. Andrew’s Thrives when…we
get involved in the Southampton community…we work in conjunction with other
churches…we are being a vital, family-like Christian fellowship…we have quality
worship services with inspiring music and message…we conduct special events
that reach beyond ourselves…we show compassion…we are welcoming and show
hospitality…we serve according to our giftedness…our leadership is strong…we
are teaching and living unconditional acceptance…we are being an example in
faith to young families…our men are involved.
In the past two years we have been acting accordingly
to these “Thrive Statements” and indeed a spirit of thriving, a spirit of hope
overflowing is arising here. St.
Andrew’s feels like a different place than it did three years ago. We have a Men’s Group now and a Friday Café
that reach people that otherwise won’t show up on Sunday morning but who
greatly benefit from the friendships they have with us. We’ve enjoyed mixing with our neighbours
across the river of the Saugeen First Nation through our concerts and
fundraisers with Wesley United. We’ve a
monthly games night. We sponsored a
community skate last January up at the Arena.
Our Lenten organ meditations and Luncheons are much enjoyed by many in
the area who are contemplatively and musically inclined. These are just drops added to our bucket of
hope which is beginning to overflow again to the Southampton community as it
has in years past. And you know
what? We’re having fun!
These are difficult days to be the church in our
culture, a culture that can now no longer be called Christian. The Church is no longer the predominant
undergirding social institution in our society.
This means that people aren’t just going to up and come to church
anymore. North America is now a mission
field. We the church must embrace this
reality and go outside our walls into our community overflowing in the joy,
peace, and hope that are ours in Christ.
We must wear the love of Christ like a church sign with neon letters.
We will have to make some real infrastructure-like
changes. It may mean leaving behind buildings to meet in homes, coffee shops, bars
or downtown storefronts. It is likely to
mean changing when we have worship services. Sunday morning really is no longer a viable
time option if we want young families.
How we worship is not likely to make much of a difference as long as we
are sincere in our praise and authentic in our fellowship.
These days for generating ideas and experimenting
with reaching out in creative ways but ways that are in accordance with who the
Holy Spirit has shaped us to be. There
are no bad ideas, but we must be aware that if it is outside of the “comfort
zone” we’ve identified in our “Thriving Statements” it may be a difficult row
to hoe. These are the days to start
having fun again as church but realizing the fun in Christ isn’t just for
us. We’ve got to bring our neighbours
along. Amen.
